EDITORIALHelping small storesA main victim of the city’s development boom has inarguably been the small businessperson, as mom-and-pop shops struggle to operate in a dense metropolis increasingly driven by real estate interests.

After terms turmoil, two candidates say they’ll take on Quinn
By Lincoln Anderson
After the City Council voted last month to extend term limits to three terms, Council Speaker Christine Quinn was serenaded with a chorus of jeers from spectators in the Council Chamber balcony: “Sell out!”…“Quinn, you sold out the city!”

Parents’ beef with mayor: Kids aren’t ‘sausages’
By Lincoln Anderson
A forum on mayoral control of New
York City’s public schools at The Cooper Union on E. Seventh St. last week saw parents turn out in numbers to demand a greater voice in their children’s education.

Vendors don’t buy Gerson’s arguments on new bills
By Albert Amateau
Vendors who sell everything from hot dogs to handicrafts filled the City Council Chamber last week at the council’s hearing on proposed new rules on how and where vendors may do business on the sidewalks of New York.

Trash talking over megagarage goes down to the wireBy Albert Amateau
Five days before the embattled three-district Department of Sanitation garage on Spring St. was scheduled to go before the City Council for final approval, the council’s Public Siting Subcommittee held the last hearing on the project.

All of Silver Towers complex is golden in the view of LandmarksBy Albert Amateau
The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously on Tuesday to designate the I.M. Pei-designed Silver Towers complex of three high-rise residential buildings and its central plaza with its 36-foot-tall sculpture of Picasso’s “Portrait of Sylvette.”

Change-allelujah! Rev Billy gives hosannas to ObamaBy Mary Reinholz and Lincoln Anderson
Pompadoured anti-consumer prankster Reverend Billy strode onstage at the Highline Ballroom in Chelsea’s Meatpacking District the Sunday after the election, delivering hosannas to President-elect Barack Obama, backed up by his Stop Shopping Gospel Choir and a brass band.

Charges keep zinging, but zoning approval expectedBy Albert Amateau
Supporters of the proposed East Village/Lower East Side rezoning told the City Council Zoning Subcommittee last week that the changes are desperately needed to control rampant high-rise development in the 111-block area.

Ferrets, lies and that Mac guyBy STACEY COBURN
The former editor of the New York Times Magazine’s “True Life Tales” column, John Hodgman is the author of a recently released book filled with fake entries covering everything from mice to the Electoral College. Written in the form of an almanac,

Underdog kills on guitarBy DAVID TODD
Marnie Stern converses a bit like an elderly woman (“I’m always leaving things places”), but she sings like a siren dishing out exclamations (“Keep at it!”) and threats (“Defenders get onto your knees”).